Great Tools for Encouraging Child Labor

Just a random product endorsement in light of the oncoming holiday season. I was reminded of these this morning as I cleaned up the brown sugar that was scattered throughout the house. Sigh.

This morning notwithstanding, Jackson has actually become somewhat proficient and enthusiastic about cleaning up his own messes. He barrels into the kitchen screaming, "I WANT MY DUSTPAN!!" He also has a little child-size push broom and a set of child-size garden tools we got him to go with his farmer costume for Halloween. He's very attached to all of them, and I've been very impressed with the quality of the Toysmith brand, which includes details like a beautiful paint job, good hardware and having a little leather loop at the end for easy hanging.

Anyway, if you (a) just like your house clean and expect your kid to help like a responsible citizen, or (b) are a Montessori partisan, here are some recommended "practical life" pieces:

Born Learning PSAs

Pregnancy has crushed my productivity so sorry for the general lack of blogging! I'm posting right now because (a) I can't sleep, and (b) to "bookmark" these videos, since I'm so fond of them. (The Internet is vast and deep and it's easy to lose things!)